Attributes

Physical Description

A largish centipede-esque creature anywhere from two to three feet long, Though some decidedly uncommon examples are even longer, with the longest recorded specimen being six feet long. Gildipede's bodies are divided into at least 14 segments, each with two attached legs, longer specimens obviously have more segments and more legs.

The gildipede's head is triangular, with five yellow eyes. They have a wide toothy grin filled hundreds of sharp, golden teeth. Their most distinctive feature is their shiny golden carapace, a result of their unusual diet. Gildipedes eat gold and incorporate it into their carapace. A particularly well fed gildipede can resemble a golden statue of itself.

Behavior

Gildipedes are greedy and vain creatures that care for nothing else beyond their own gratification, which they gain through the consumption of gold. Gildipedes are positively docile when they don't detect gold, which can give one the impression that they are friendly, and sociable animals. But when a gildipede sniffs out the presence of gold nearby or on a person, their eyes alight with the prospect of aquiring gold to feed on.

Many gildipede will, at such a moment, spring into a frenzy of voracious activity, gorging on any loose bits of gold that can be acquired and digging through to find any that aren't to obvious. Others, may adopt a more sly and conniving stance, waiting for an opportune moment to acquire gold.

Subspecies

Argentipede: Essentially a gildipede that instead of gold, favors silver as it's primary food. As a consequence it's carapace is a shiny silver instead of gold, They are known to haunt more mundane locals than their choosy cousins, being found in hospitals and restaurants, and anywhere they suspect silver may be found.

Ferropede: A subspecies of gildipede that eats iron rather than gold. It's carapace is dull and gray, and they tend to be more aggressive. As iron is more commonly found in organic creatures than gold or silver is, ferropedes often satiate their hunger in a more conventional ways than their avaricious cousins, and are much more widespread as a result.

Special

None.

Trivia

• While gildipede are hardly 'sapient', and most satisfied with acquiring whatever gold just laying around or in the hands of the inattentive. Some have realized that that sapients place value on commodities other than gold, which, incidentally, they find absurd. These gildipede with their basic grasp of economics, will acquire various nick-knacks and attempt to offer them in exchange for gold.

• The excessively wealthy often acquire gildipedes as pets, to show off how wealthy they are. They can get as much gold as they want, and just throw it away into the waiting maw of a gildipede.